220. (4) Truths and goods in outmosts, such as are contained in the sense of the letter of the Word, were represented by the curtains, veils, and pillars of the tabernacle. The tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness represented heaven and the church, and therefore the form of it was shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. As a consequence, all things in that tabernacle, namely, the candlestick, the golden altar for incense, and the table on which was the bread of faces, represented and signified the holy things of heaven and the church; the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant was kept, represented and thus signified the inmost of heaven and the church; the law itself written upon the two tables signified the Word; and the cherubs above the ark signified guards to protect the holy things of the Word from desecration. Since, then, externals derive their essence from internals, and both externals and internals derive their essence from the inmost, which here was the law, so all things belonging to the tabernacle represented and signified the holy things of the Word. From this it follows that the outmost parts of the tabernacle, its curtains, veils, and pillars, which were coverings, containers, and supports, signified the outmost things of the Word, which are the truths and goods of the sense of its letter. Because this was what they signified:
All the curtains and veils were of fine-twined linen, and blue and purple and scarlet double-dyed, with cherubs (Exod. 26:1, 31, 36).
What was represented and signified by the tabernacle and by all things in it, both in general and in particular, has been explained in Arcana Coelestia, where this chapter is treated of. It is there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, and thus also the externals of the Word and that the "linen" [xylinum seu byssinum] signified truth from a spiritual origin; "blue" truth from a celestial origin; "purple" celestial good; "scarlet double-dyed" spiritual good; and the "cherubs" guards of the interiors of the Word.